


(Non) Fiction

by Camelabrakedabra



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Artists, Characters Writing Fanfiction, Fanfiction of Fanfiction, Gen, Platonic Relationships, Writers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-30 00:13:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15084827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Camelabrakedabra/pseuds/Camelabrakedabra
Summary: Jihoon is a writer - not an author - but Soonyoung was an artist through and through. That was what brought them together; a mutual appreciation for the arts and, in particular, each other's work.A short one-shot piece about cross-media art exchange.





	(Non) Fiction

Jihoon was a writer.

Not an author but a writer. There was a huge difference. His actual job was working in a department store. Faked smiles and uncomfortable laughs at customers' jokes, trying his hardest to get through the day without saying something wrong. He hated it more than anything in the entire world. It was the most mind-numbingly boring job that he could have ever imagined having, but it was the job that would ultimately get him through his university degree and would help him to get a better job in the long run. He was taking business and was planning on setting up his own choreography business and dance school, not only for those who wanted to learn dance but also professionals who wanted a performance as well as a song. He had already won awards in six different styles of dance and had choreographed his own pieces, so it wasn't exactly going to be a huge stretch for him to turn it into a career.

Instead, his writing was a hobby which he kept very hidden. He used a pseudonym which was hidden under three different pseudonyms on his various different blogs. His followers could have access to his Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr accounts if they really wanted to keep up to date with his life, but they would be faced with the many names that he used to keep himself safe. The last thing he really wanted was for his university or employers to ever find out about the sorts of things that he posted online. On his writing blog, his name was Sunmu-Ingum. On his Twitter, it was Jageunkeop. His Instagram was under the name Jumeoni Gansig, and his Tumblr was simply Tal. Approximately two people who read his stories knew that his actual name was Jihoon, and the rest simply referred to him by one of those pseudonyms or by Inae.

It was just safer that way. No one in his life really needed to know that he wrote fanfiction about men from his favourite book series getting into a romantic relationship. They didn't need to know that he was that way inclined either; that he wrote his fantasies and desires in the form of fiction and hoped that no one caught on to that fact. They didn't know that he felt an emotional connection to the younger character, Hyunwoo, and that the elder character, Joonho, was exactly the sort of person he wanted his own partner to be like. Those characters had stayed with him since his childhood and became a huge part of his life again in his mid-teens, just after he came out to his parents, and so they were the very reason why he actually learnt how to write. Being able to clear his mind using characters who both he and other people could connect to was his guilty little pleasure.

There was a level of intimacy between Jihoon and that particular book series. Between finding a sense of his own identity through the characters and being able to work through his own feelings of stress and anxiety by putting his emotions into a blank word document, he truly felt as if he was in a mentally better place than he was before he took up such a hobby. And sure, he did have a selection of other hobbies, but nothing quite compared to writing what he and his fellow fans felt cheated out of reading. The character relationship dynamics were only natural, given the non-platonic chemistry between both boys in the later books, but the relationship had never explicitly been explored. It was Jihoon's job, as a result, to give that sense of closure through extensions of the original plotline, plus adding other elements that could contribute to their relationship.

He imagined it like a movie in his head, but it didn't always come out like that. There were only so many creative ways of saying that Hyunwoo pinned Joonho to the tree as he kissed him hard on the lips, and that Joonho melted instantly whenever they made contact. Then again, sometimes it worked out exactly how he wanted it to sound. Sometimes the stories would be linked, but most of the time it would be the case that he would get to rewrite their first kiss over and over again in a variety of different scenarios. He would get to rewrite their arguments over ridiculous things, such as the scuff of dirt on Hyunwoo's bag or the way that Joonho refused to move away from their camp to go to the bathroom in the early morning, and he would even get to rewrite them in a multitude of different alternative universes. Mermaid Hyunwoo finding timid sailor Joonho on the beach and then trying to make him fall in love so that he could kill him? Yes, please. An AU where Joonho was a shy librarian and Hyunwoo only went into the library in an attempt to seduce a different person each week? Definitely. A universe where customer Hyunwoo intimidates coffee shop barista Joonho so much that he ends up making five mistakes with his coffee in a row? Of course, that would be beautiful.

To start with, it was written just for Jihoon himself. He didn't really care whether he had any readers, and he didn't care whether it seemed as if it was all written in vain. It was his hobby and his way of de-stressing after work or classes. He could always read his old fics later on down the line to see it from a fresh point of view. He could read it for pleasure or to see how far he had come when he was feeling down. He had actually read his first piece around twenty times for that exact reason. It was a high school alternate universe, in which Hyunwoo was a rowdy student and Joonho was a teaching assistant who was still in university at the time. What they did wasn't illegal, but it was hardly appropriate. In reality, they wouldn't have been able to get away with any of it, and it wouldn't have gotten as far as it did in the fic, but he thought it was a part of his own creative license back then so he wrote it as if it was plausible.

Jihoon's first piece had been pretty awful. It sounded more like a self-insert fanfiction, rather than actually portraying the characters fully. Sure, he was pretty close in personality to Hyunwoo in a number of ways, but Hyunwoo was more loud and dominating than grumpy but determined for the most part. He didn't fake smiles for anyone, and he certainly didn't notice when he was being an asshole. His character had a number of flaws in the original book and Jihoon had failed to include them. They got together within two or three chapters, even though they didn't know each other prior to the events of the fanfic, and then they would be in a more adult relationship by chapter five. Saying that, though, his first fic had been the first thing that he had ever really tried to write, so the flaws were primarily due to the lack of experience. Over time, they were ironed out pretty well and he was a lot more confident in his ability to portray the story and characters successfully.

It was strange, as a result, when he found that people still read his earlier works. They were awful and he knew it, but he still received positive feedback. In fact, there were three or four readers who had been following him since the very beginning, plus an additional few who had read every single piece that he had published. All in all, he had accumulated over two million words, so they had read quite a lot to have been caught up on every single piece that he had written. It was impressive, to say the least, but it also meant that they got to see him grow just as much as he had seen himself growing and improving over time. To start with, he had been convinced that a lot of them would stop reading after just a few chapters or even a few fics, but he was pleasantly surprised to see the same people liking his fics every time.

What he lived for more than the readers who had stayed with him over time, though, was the few readers who commented on his works every single time he posted. Sure, he had the same few who read any genre and any alternate universe for his pairing, but there was nothing like having good feedback from other people. The community was so kind that he never really received harsh or mean feedback, but he wouldn't have even minded if he did get negative feedback too. No, what was more important was the fact that some people gave him in-depth reviews of each chapter. Any comments were good comments, but those reviews left him smiling at his phone when he was out of the house.

"Honestly, I would have felt so cheated if they didn't have an affair in this chapter," one reader commented, for example, "I don't condone cheating and I don't suppose you do either, but Joonho's girlfriend seems to be incredibly problematic and emotionally abusive so I really think that having a relationship on the side with Hyunwoo was the only option. Sometimes I think he just needs a little bit of a kick to make him realise that he's so much better than that, which is why I'm strangely fine with it. I'm just a tiny bit worried that he'll end up feeling bad about it because he's not really the sort to be unfaithful, and I'm a bit concerned about what it'll do for his mental health too. Please be safe, Joonho!!! Thank you for updating, as always, and I hope you have a great week! You'll ace your assessment, don't worry! <3"

"Hey, don't stress yourself out any more than you need to do so," another told him when he apologised for being slow at updating one fic. He had been ill and had to balance his workload and writing, but it had proved to be particularly difficult that week. "We know that you have a life outside of your writing. We'll still be here when your life is less hectic and we don't care whether you write every day or once a year. You're the priority here, and we're just here to support your works and read whatever you have for us. As always, you've blessed us with a wonderful chapter and we all appreciate it more than you can imagine. On behalf of every one of your readers here, we sincerely hope that you'll update us on your health and wellbeing when you're feeling healthier. Sunmu-shi, fighting!"

It gave him a reason to push through the harder days, and it even helped him with his work at times. When business at the store was slow, he would use his plot planning to keep himself occupied so that the shift didn't drag too much. It meant that he would have some time to develop it, which would be great, and then he would even be able to refine his plotlines by coming up with ways to make it fit with the pre-existing events of the story. Sometimes, he would spend his breaks planning some phrases to use on a sheet of paper, ready to transfer to his laptop as soon as he got home. Other times, he would jot it down on his arm instead, which would be awkward to read but would encourage him to think it through that little bit more. He may have been a writer and not an author, but his writing was his baby and it meant the world to him to have it as a secret part of his life.

That was why he was touched so deeply when a reader linked him to some art via Twitter - art that was based on his writing.

Jihoon's heart skipped a beat when he read the message that he had received. "Hey, take a look at this art based on Sugar Bait. It's so cool!" For a while, he just sat there with his phone in his hand, considering whether or not he actually wanted to click the link. Of course, he knew without even needing to check that the reader wasn't going to be sending him some virus or phishing link; rather, it was simply intimidating for him to see that someone had taken the time to draw his ideas. The best part was that the artist hadn't even been the one to send the link; apparently, he had been too nervous to tag or link Jihoon to the piece, so it was a miracle that he actually got to see the piece. So he finally decided to click on the link and waited impatiently for it to load and reveal the image to him.

It was everything that he could have wanted. A beautiful semi-realistic scene from his mermaid fic; a very particular scene that meant a lot to him. Jihoon's influence for that scene had been a true story from his childhood, in which a young man was swept up by a strong current and his corpse was deposited on a beach miles away. It had been a scene that he had been working on for almost a full day so that he could properly represent the image that he wanted, and so it had ultimately ended up being one of his best pieces. The reader's piece captured it perfectly. It captured the raw emotion that he had been feeling as he wrote; the unusual tenderness between Hyunwoo and Joonho when they met on the beach at midnight. The way that they portrayed it made it clear to the viewer that there was something sinister going on in the background, although it was shown through subtle imagery and the slightest flicker of malice in Hyunwoo's expression instead of being massively obvious on first glance. Jihoon loved it.

He spent forever just staring at the piece in silence, not even knowing what to do with himself. He adored every single aspect of the artwork, and it was everything to him to see it there for everyone to see. The caption even encouraged others to read the fic and message the artist about it so that they could happily rant about it together. Jihoon couldn't help but consider messaging him about it. It would have been perfect; he could have made a friend from a mutual connection to that one particular scene. His thumb hovered over his screen for a little while as he tried to make his decision, but then he soon decided against making the move. It seemed to be way too desperate for a first interaction with someone and he feared that it would scare the guy if he came across too strong. Instead, he saved it to his phone, turned it into his wallpaper, and then promptly began to search through the artist's other drawings.

There were no other pieces that were related to his works, unfortunately, but he did find a few that were particularly interesting. The vast majority were centred around the pair that Jihoon had been writing about, which he loved a lot. It meant that he could really connect with the art, just as the artist had done with his fic. One piece, for example, showed a royalty-themed alternate universe, in which Hyunwoo was a bratty prince and Joonho was his devoted servant. The piece was filled with deep reds and greens, large gems throwing light around the naturally-lit room, and individually textured books. That was something that Jihoon loved a lot about the artist's work; all of the details were very clearly drawn individually, rather than being mass-coloured. Each book had a different coloured spine with delicately penned titles. Some spines had immense detail, some had pictures either at the top or the bottom. It really made the image pop and brought it to life.

Then there were the boys on the right side of the drawing. Hyunwoo perched on the window ledge with a book in his hand, leaning his back against the window. Joonho kneeled on the floor in front of him with one of his master's feet in his hand, rubbing it delicately with the pads of his fingertips. They paid little direct regard to each other, and it was shown through their lack of eye contact. Neither looked miserable, though, and it instead seemed to suit them that they weren't directly involved with each other. Jihoon examined every single element of the piece before scrolling down to the caption. _"'Master, is this to your liking?' Hyunwoo didn't answer. He never did. And whilst Joonho could try to justify it, he actually preferred it that way. It allowed him to do his job without being disturbed too greatly."_

Naturally, it became his next writing project. He didn't know what he would do with himself if he didn't take up that challenge. It swarmed his dreams that night as it was, and he just needed to get it out of his mind. By the time he finished his classes the following day, he already had the entire fic planned out. It was going to be around twenty-five thousand words in total, and it was going to start from the moment that Joonho was hired. They would be childhood acquaintances, and the intention would have been for Joonho to be a gentleman's gentleman, rather than a lower-class servant. Yet, he would be too weak-minded to be able to stand up for himself, even after years of working for Hyunwoo, and so he would ultimately end up taking on a lower position. When they hit their mid- to late-teens, though, Hyunwoo would be so eager to explore his sexuality and relationships that he would stop acting as if he was above his servant and would instead try to pursue a temporary romantic relationship with him, in order to prepare himself for his future relationships.

It wouldn't be a happy ending. Considering how his fics usually went, he didn't feel that having a happy ending would be appropriate. Heck, he didn't really think that the artist would appreciate that either. As much as the scene he drew was delicate, it was supposed to be a moment of subtle tension between the boys. It wasn't as if they weren't speaking simply because Hyunwoo was so engrossed in his book that he wasn't paying his servant any attention. They weren't speaking because Hyunwoo was convinced that he was above speaking to someone who he considered to be below him in class. They had once been friends and were due to become temporary lovers. It wasn't supposed to be permanent. The plan was to have them genuinely fall in love, but then Hyunwoo would be too stubborn to admit it and would instead seek someone else's hand in marriage. Joonho would become an emotionally-based paramour; no kisses or touches, but they would have an intense relationship that couldn't be matched by Hyunwoo's wife.

It was an intense fic to write, once he got started. His attempts at making it subtle that he was working on an additional project failed epically. The plan was to write a few thousand words every night, but still keep up with all of his pre-existing works. He didn't really have an excuse to avoid updating, such as stress or assignments, and so he had to avoid letting them slip too much. It was supposed to be a surprise that he was writing something based on someone else's art, just as it had been a surprise to him that his fanfiction had become art. All in all, though, he found that he was spending more time on that fic than any other, and was even staying up until two or three o'clock each morning so that he could write that few extra thousand words. It meant that it was finished within six days, though, and Jihoon couldn't help but feel proud of himself as he uploaded it to his account.

"I know I said that I wasn't going to start any new projects until I completed the ones I've been working on lately, but it recently came to my attention that one of my readers - Hostarshwl on Twitter and Instagram - drew amazing fanart for one of my fics. If you're reading this, I'd like to thank you for brightening up my day and fulfilling my ultimate wish of having some of my writing drawn by someone. This fic is based on an AU that was represented in one of his pieces. You should send me a message on Twitter sometime."

Okay, so the note wasn't quite as elegant as he had hoped, but it put his point across. As soon as it was posted, he clicked off the tab so that he wouldn't have to worry about it plaguing his mind. The last thing he really needed was to have to worry about the response that he would get. He hadn't really considered that he might have been butchering someone else's idea until it was posted, but it was uploaded now and he could hardly take it back. After all, there was a fine line between creating a piece that was inspired by someone else's art and plagiarising it, even if he did provide credit for the idea. It was his policy to upload every complete fic, though, just so that he would be able to either learn from it or improve it in the future. That was just how he worked. So the fic ended up staying, and he simply avoided refreshing his inbox until he went to bed that evening.

As soon as he refreshed it, though, the glowing message stood out on his screen. An excited comment about how he had been recognised by one of his favourite fanfic writers, and how his heart stopped when he realised what the fic was based around. He had assumed that it was simply a coincidence until he got to the library scene and realised that it sounded awfully familiar, and so he had ended up scrolling to the bottom of the page to see whether there was a nod towards his work. As expected, the note was there at the bottom, and so he reread from the beginning whilst imagining the scenes how he had imagined them as he was drawing. Whilst obviously the plot points were very different to what he had imagined, he could still see how it all slotted together with what he had drawn. He loved it as much as Jihoon loved his art, or so he said. Never before had he imagined that his work would end up being written about by a writer, and he appreciated it more than anything.

It left Jihoon with a tickle of excitement in the pit of his stomach. He could hardly sleep to start with but he knew that if he checked his messages, he would end up getting engrossed in whatever conversation they happened to hold. It would have been ideal if he wasn't at work or studying, since he found it easier to hold conversations in the early hours of the morning, but he just couldn't afford to get wrapped up in chatting. So he tried to force himself to rest, with plans of checking his messages as soon as he woke up in the morning, and then did just that as soon as he woke up and turned off his alarm.

Except he had no private messages on any of his social media accounts. Not one. He made sure to double-check, just to make sure that he hadn't woken in the night and accidentally read the message, but there were none there at all. It was a bit of a disappointment, but he figured that the artist was probably the sort of person who would only send a message if he had the time to hold a full conversation. People had their own lives, and he didn't need to assume that the guy would be able to message him at all times. It was completely understandable that he wouldn't answer, really, and so he tried his hardest to be patient. Yet, there was still no response a few days later. No response a week later, two weeks, a month. Jihoon quickly gave up with checking, although it stayed in the front of his mind the entire time. Perhaps he had done something to intimidate the guy, or maybe he was just faking his happiness with the piece so that Jihoon didn't feel insulted. There was no way of telling, really. 

Jihoon could see that he was still posting on his social media, so he knew that nothing was wrong with the guy, but it was incredibly difficult to handle when he genuinely wanted to make a friend out of the experience. Then again, the last thing he really wanted to do was make it seem as if he was obsessive or too pushy. There was probably a good reason why he didn't want to interact. So Jihoon dropped it. He got back on with his work, and it quickly became a fond memory. They parted as unlikely friends without any direct contact. He continued to post wherever he could, updating his fics on a regular basis. It didn't affect him that much; he swore it wasn't that bad at all. People came and went in his life anyway, and this was just another one of those incidents. In fact, by the time it reached his birthday, he had completely forgotten about the fact that the artist had drawn one of his pieces and he had written about one of his pieces in return.

Time moved on and Jihoon continued into his third year of university. He made it through the summer with his fanfiction still going strong, and then gradually worked towards the winter and his birthday. Usually, he wasn't really the sort of person who would post about his birthday so that strangers could find out that little bit of information about him, but it was a little bit different that year. The need to keep it a secret was replaced with the need for company, since he was alone for his birthday for the first year ever. "As my little treat to you all, I'm planning to spend the entire day writing so that you'll get five chapters by tonight," he announced. It sounded really sad when he read it over again. A grown adult resorting to the company of strangers because he didn't have anyone to spend his birthday with. It didn't stop him, though. He switched off his social media and began to write as much as he could. The first chapter was finished by ten o'clock that morning and the second by lunchtime. He uploaded one after the last throughout the entire day, only taking short breaks to get meals and use the bathroom in the meantime.

He had his usual commenters, as expected. They were always there, and he was just as happy to hear from them as he always was. By the time he came to upload the next chapter, there would already be at least two or three new comments in his inbox. They all read the usual things - ideas of how they thought the next few chapters would play out, and the general, "I'm so excited to see what's going to happen next!" comments. Today, though, the majority added a birthday message to the end of their comments. Something about how he should rest but they were glad to spend the time with him too. He couldn't help but smile every time he read them; he hadn't checked whether his other friends or family had sent him messages, so it was a wonderful gesture to have so many sweet comments. In fact, it was only when he had all of his fics updated that he checked his social media to see whether there were any other birthday messages or general attempts at making conversation. When he checked, there were a handful on his Facebook account, but that was mostly it. That was, until he finally checked his Twitter account.

Right there, along the top bar, was an inbox notification, standing bright and proud on the page. Jihoon's stomach lurched. He didn't know what to make of it, since he hadn't really been anticipating any inbox messages and most of the readers who did wish him a happy birthday did so in their comments. Event he ones who tended to send him private messages had made a point of sending him love through his comments section. His mouse hovered over the icon for longer than necessary before he finally clicked and opened up his list of direct messages. And there it was; the message that he had been waiting for months to see. He clicked on it right away, not even bothering to wait for longer than necessary, then let his eyes scan over the text.

"Hey Inae, I'm really sorry for not messaging you when you told me to come and chat with you properly, but I got really nervous and I didn't want to make a bad impression so I just kept pushing it to the side more and more until I realised that I couldn't do it any longer. I guessed that it would seem really awkward if I finally messaged you back several months later and I didn't want you to be upset with me for taking so long. But it's your birthday today so I plucked up the courage and drew a little something for you as thanks for the way that you wrote my idea up as a surprise. I hope you like it and again, I'm really sorry for not messaging sooner."

Attached was a short comic, based loosely around his coffee shop alternate universe. Jihoon immediately felt butterflies starting to flutter in the pit of his stomach as he read through the five pages on his screen. It started off with Hyunwoo entering the coffee shop and asking if he would receive any special treatment because it was his birthday. He wasn't intentionally aggressive or anything, but his attitude could have easily been interpreted as being rude. Joonho felt intimidated under his gaze as he made the coffee and so he ended up messing it up once before making it correctly. Hyunwoo faked being annoyed by the lack of special treatment and so, since the shop was quiet, Joonho went into the staff room to mix together a really poor buttercream out of the sandwich butter and some granulated sugar from the cupboard, and then he used a piece of greaseproof paper to pipe "happy birthday" as small as he could before taking it out to Hyunwoo.

The result was Hyunwoo actually feeling bad because he had made him nervous, which led to him inviting Joonho out to spend his birthday evening with him, seeing as he was going to be alone otherwise. That was the end of the comic, but it didn't seem as if he had been cheated out of an ending. Rather, it was pretty satisfying to see how it had been left to interpretation. Jihoon absolutely loved it and he wanted nothing more than to print it out and stick it on his bedroom walls. Of course, he made sure to thank the artist first and ask if he had permission to do that, or whether he would like a bit of money as thanks for drawing it for him, but the artist insisted that it was a gift and besides, he wasn't going to draw something for someone and then demand their money for it. The artist wanted nothing more than for him to enjoy the piece and stick it on his walls, but he requested to see a photo of it there so that he could imagine it in someone's house like that. Jihoon sent him back exactly that.

That comic was ultimately what started their friendship. The artist was the third reader who ever found out what Jihoon's real name was, and he quickly found out that the artist's name was Soonyoung in return. Soonyoung was pretty interesting; he lived in Namyangju but studied in Seoul. He liked a variety of food, but his current obsession was honey-coated potato chips. He wasn't working or in education at that point in time, since he was trying to figure out what course he wanted to take at university still, but he was leaning more towards something artistic. His parents wanted him to figure it out pretty soon, though, since he needed to get his application for university sorted by the end of the year if he wanted to start his course in the new year, but he joked that they were probably sick of him sitting around and eating all of their food like a little hamster or something.

They clicked right away. There was something about Soonyoung that made Jihoon feel genuinely happy, and he figured that the feelings were mutual since Soonyoung began to chat with him almost every single day. Saying that, though, whenever they didn't talk, he would send an apology note first to make sure that it was okay to avoid making contact. He didn't want to leave Jihoon waiting, he said, and it was greatly appreciated even though he obviously didn't have to do that. They spoke informally with each other within a few weeks of their first interaction, and it quickly got to the point where they were surprising each other with snippets of work. Jihoon would get to see Soonyoung's art whilst he was still in the process of building it up from the sketch, and he would frequently send Soonyoung a paragraph or two to give him hints towards the content of his upcoming chapters. The exchange would always be met with excitement, even if what they were sent wasn't all that interesting or extensive in their own eyes, and so the foundation they built together was a strong one.

Then came the days where they could chat about more personal matters. It started with Soonyoung mentioning how he used his art as a way of escaping the anxiety of having to arrange his future, and Jihoon confessed that he had a strained relationship with his family and couldn't handle being around them most of the time. Eventually, more and more confessions began to come to the surface. Soonyoung had a collection of stamps as a child but they were stolen by a bully, so he was incredibly protective over what he did have. Jihoon had always been sensitive about his height and he always exaggerated how tall he was to online friends, since he knew that he would never have the opportunity to meet them and be faced with the embarrassment of being caught out. Soonyoung had never had a relationship, nor had he ever kissed anyone, since his parents had been insistent on him starting his career first. Jihoon had a huge soft spot for fluffy animals, although he always made sure to hide that fact when he was around other people because everyone always assumed that he was soft and feminine as it was without even knowing that fact, which he absolutely loathed.

Within a couple of months, Soonyoung became the only person who Jihoon really chatted with on a regular basis. It was only natural that it would work out like that when they were discussing such personal matters. Between the art exchanges and the way that their relationship was open enough for neither to feel uncomfortable with discussing anything, Jihoon honestly found that he loved Soonyoung a lot. Not necessarily in a romantic way, but certainly in an appreciative one. It was the sort of connection that he hadn't really felt with anyone else before. Genuine happiness when they spent time talking, and then a degree of understanding that was hard to find anywhere else. Not only was it peer understanding either; they also related on an artistic level. The struggles that they faced with getting pieces to appear exactly how they intended, the issues with artist block, and their feelings towards feedback. It accidentally slipped out one day whilst they were chatting but even though he had jumped to apologise, Soonyoung was quick to assure him that the feelings were mutual.

Up until they started talking, Jihoon hadn't really held a friend for more than a few months. Things got in the way. He would experience difficult or stressful periods in his life and wouldn't be able to keep conversations going, and then they wouldn't be able to get back into the swing of daily conversation. He was a really bad friend, in that sense. He had expected that it would be the same when it came to Soonyoung but thankfully, their relationship quickly proved to be resilient to the effects of time and responsibilities. In fact, it was still going just as strong when Soonyoung announced that he was planning to attend university in the new year - a full year after they first started talking - and asked for help with choosing the right one to attend.

Jihoon had jumped right into the helping role as soon as he heard that his friend needed that little bit of help. He distinctly recalled how hard it had been to pick one out himself and so that mixed with his undying need to take care of Soonyoung left him with no choice but to offer all of his assistance. "There are a number of different universities that are good for artistic degrees," Jihoon pointed out as he sent a selection of website links to his friend. He wasn't really obliged to send such things to him, especially when it wasn't his choice where Soonyoung took his degree, but he figured that it was best to send what he had found instead of just giving Soonyoung the hypothetical information. That wouldn't have really helped anyone. "You have good talent and I think you need to show them your full portfolio. You'll get in with no competition at all."  
"You're trying to flatter me," Soonyoung replied, making sure to pepper the comment with a few happy emojis. That was all he wrote, and so Jihoon left him to his own devices to have a look at the websites.

It took a few hours for him to eventually reply again, but the result was an in-depth explanation of the pros and cons of each university until he had narrowed it down to just three of them. One had a great campus and friendly staff, but the course was very different from all of the other ones offered around the country. The second had excellent facilities but was incredibly far away from his hometown, so he wouldn't be able to see his parents that often. The final one was very results-driven but that wasn't necessarily going to be perfect for his mental health if they didn't have the sufficient support available to assist him. "I'm planning to visit them all over the next few weeks, just so that I can get an idea of whether they're for me and I can look past the cons," he pointed out, before giving each of the names in turn. Included in the list was Jihoon's own university - the second option on the list. His heart skipped a beat when he read it, and he couldn't help but break into a huge smile in response.  
"Well, my university is on the list so I can already confirm that you'll like the campus, but I won't tell you which one yet. I don't want to sway you. It's the course that matters the most."

Soonyoung was insistent on finding out, but Jihoon refused to tell him. It was difficult to do so, but he didn't really want to make his decision for him. They were friends online primarily, even if they did consider each other as best friends. It took all of his strength to avoid hinting towards it, but then he quickly ended up breaking down when it got to the day on which Soonyoung was supposed to be visiting his university. Admittedly, it wasn't the worst way to have given in to the pressure, though, and it could have easily been seen as a positive thing. They had known each other for quite some time, so it only felt natural for them to finally come together. Sure, it could have seemed as if he was trying to convince Soonyoung to attend so that he could spend his fourth year with his first-year friend, but he figured that if the only issue was the fact that he was a long way away from home, a bit of added support would make him feel a bit better about the university. At that point, he simply sent a single message and hoped that it would get him where he really needed to be.

"Would you like to meet me for coffee when you come to the campus today?" The reply took a lot longer than anticipated to come through. Jihoon found that he was reconsidering sending it within a few minutes of not getting a reply, especially since Soonyoung saw the message but didn't actually reply for several hours. Perhaps he decided against visiting the universities so that they didn't end up bumping into each other and making things awkward. Perhaps he just didn't want to meet up with Jihoon. As much as he knew that he was probably overreacting and overthinking the situation, Jihoon couldn't help but feel uncomfortable as his mind whirred with ideas of why Soonyoung wouldn't be responding to such an important message, but then he quickly reminded himself of the fact that he was probably busy. It could be an issue with the train as much as it could be Soonyoung's lack of interest in meeting him, and so he figured that it was another thing to push out of his mind. In the end, he simply turned up his phone volume as high as possible before getting on with other things. Cleaning up, doing laundry, writing.

Four hours later, he received his answer.

"Sorry, I had no WiFi on the train. So this is your one, huh? I'll be on campus in fifteen minutes if you'd like me to meet you at the coffee shop first. I think it would be nice to have some time to chat in person and then we could look around the campus together, if that's okay?" Jihoon had never moved so fast in his entire life. Within ten minutes, he was dressed and was on his way to the coffee shop. He sat impatiently as he waited for Soonyoung to arrive until eventually, he saw a nervous-looking boy with his parents entering the shop. He inhaled deeply and stared at him without blinking until the boy noticed him sat there and broke into a huge smile. He made his way straight over with a new-found confidence and then took a folded piece of paper out of his pocket, which was promptly slipped across the table towards him. They knew who they were and that they were supposed to be meeting that day; there was no need to try to introduce themselves as if they were strangers.

"Jihoon," he said quietly, just to confirm that he knew what was happening. His voice was hoarse, as if his throat had been dried out by the anxiety of meeting up finally. Jihoon unfolded the paper, only to see that it was the original sketch of the mermaid drawing he loved so much. Line art with rough pencil marks, areas where the erased hadn't quite lifted the lead, and the general messiness of the overlapping construction lines. Jihoon loved it. He smiled up at his friend as brightly as he could imagine, and Soonyoung's cheeks immediately plumped up with happiness as he realised that the response was genuine. "Do you like it?"  
"It'll go on the wall right next to the comic, if that's okay." Jihoon couldn't really contain his excitement over the fact that they were meeting for the first time as soon as he finished speaking, and so he did as Soonyoung encouraged and allowed his friend to hug him tightly.

Sure, Jihoon wasn't a professional author. He didn't plan on ever becoming a professional author. But that was all satisfying for him when it gave him the opportunity to be himself, let out his emotions, and make friends like this. Whilst becoming Soonyoung's friend in real life was just incidental, it was one of the things that made him feel like continuing with his writing. It meant that he could affect little aspects of a real person's life, even if he didn't know them, and that was one of the best feelings in the world. And if he could affect other people's lives like that and they could touch his similarly, it was all worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> This was just a quick one from a Twitter prompt that was retweeted a few days ago by NotJustAHoeForHoshi (I'm like 99% sure I have this right??)!! It's pretty much an artist's dream to have this sort of thing happen and it's pretty damn surreal as an experience. Writers (or authors), artists, and any others who work with any form of arts have a mutual soft spot for this, as far as I've seen, so it was nice to actually be able to write a little bit about that sort of thing. Heck, I've even seen someone make a textile piece for a fanfiction before, around maybe sixish years ago?? That was pretty great, really, and I wish I could find the dress again
> 
> Thank you for reading!! <3


End file.
